Worthy RTS for Star Wars universe

I finally bought a new computer and felt it was time to put a new game on it, so I bought Star Wars: Empire at War (SW:EaW). I've played real-time strategy games before, mainly Command & Conquer, so I figured having an RTS using Star Wars equipment would be great.

How right I was. This is a great game. Even though there is very little that is new for RTS games, simply by having many of the items in the Star Wars franchise available makes it that much cooler.

A lot of the equipment you are able to use are found in the expanded universe of Star Wars. However, enough information is provided so people new to the game or the Star Wars franchise aren't left wondering what's going on.

For those who haven't played an RTS before, the concept is very simple. You control your forces in real-time; no turn-based combat involved so you have to be quick to make decisions. You also have to manage your resources while you're planning strategy and fighting battles, you're also making money to buy new equipment. Plus you have to worry about increase your technology so you have access to bigger and better items.

SW:EaW is somewhat different from other RTSes in that, in addition to normal "skirmish" mode (you manager your resources at the same time you fight), there is also a campaign mode, where you have certain mission requirements to complete but you are also free to manage your side as you want. To advance the story line, you have to complete the missions but you're free to take your time accomplishing them. This way you can build up your forces before the next mission.

The game involves your forces (Rebel or Empire) taking over various worlds in the galaxy from the other side. Each planet gives you a certain amount of money upon capture and also provides a given amount each day. Also, each planet has a certain benefit that can help one side or the other. For example, some planets will give you a discount on various weapons or will let you build a capital ship.

Heroes from the Star Wars universe are also available as player characters. Darth Vader, R2D2, Mara Jade, et al. can be acquired over time and provide various special abilities during game play.

While playing it, I've noticed that either I've been away from RTSes for too long or the game is slightly more difficult than I'm used to, even on easy. Very quickly I found myself losing tanks and walkers to rocket troops and I never seemed to have enough troops to stop it.

One good thing the game allows you to do is conduct a tactical retreat. This way, if you are losing to many men, you can retreat off-planet to cut your losses. I'm not aware of another game that allows this; normally if you start to lose, you just have to wait until the opponent wins or you quit the game and start over.

Being able to play with a lot of the cool "toys" in Star Wars is a big thing. It's interesting to see how your tactics will change depending on what equipment you have and what your goals are. You can actually accomplish quite bit with just several dozen soldiers; having the support units can actually be a hinderance since they seemed to die faster than regular troops.

Two other neat aspects of SW:EaW are the battle types and cinema mode. For battles, you have both space combat and ground wars. If you've played Star Wars Battlefront 2, then this is just a variation of the combat in that game. Space combat lets you deploy fighters and space cruisers against your opponent; often you have to take out an orbiting space station. In addition to fighting the enemy, you also have to contend with asteroid fields, ion storms (think Star Trek: Wrath of Khan), and other hazards.

Ground combat is pretty standard, similar to C&C or Warcraft. However, if you're playing campaign mode, only the forces you brought to the planet are able to be used. You don't get to build new forces when attacking; you don't even have the option to capture enemy buildings. All you can do is destroy them. If you're attacking force is large enough, you can keep some of them in reserve and call them in as reinforcements.

The other cool thing about this game is that it has "cinema mode". When clicked, this mode changes the view from the standard isometric view to a movie-like show. The views now appear more like cutscenes, showing the action like a film crew was with your group. This works with both space and ground combat.

I really enjoy this game. There are enough new ideas in it to feel somewhat fresh for this game genre. And being able to mess around in the Star Wars universe is just a great kick.

EDIT: When I tried to patch the game, the text disappeared into a barcode-like display. I had to reinstall the game to fix it. I don't know if it's because I was using a Mac or not but it's something to be aware of.